John P. “Jack” Lanigan (1922-2000) was an American editorial cartoonist for the New
Bedford, Massachusetts
Standard Times.

John P. Lanigan was born in Chicago on October 8, 1922 and served in the South Pacific
during World War II and participated in the Guadalcanal campaign. He studied at the
Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students' League but was recalled into military
service during the Korean War and worked with the atomic bomb testing unit. Upon his
discharge, he pursued freelance work and became the editorial cartoonist for the
Standard Times in 1964.

Lanigan held membership in the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists and his
cartoons were selected for the
Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year series. His cartoons were exhibited as part of the 1970 International Cartoon Exhibition
in Athens, Greece, and were included in the Man and His World International Fine Arts
Exhibition at Expo 67 in Montreal.

John P. Lanigan retired in 1987 to the Lake Luzerne, New York area and died of cancer
on March 25, 2000.

The
John P. Lanigan Papers are organized into 2 series. The first series,
Cartoons contains 193 original editorial cartoons. The majority of the cartoons have been
approximately dated based on when they were donated. The cartoons were produced with
ink, pencil and dot screening on a variety of weights of illustration board. Dimensions
vary and notations are included in pencil. Of interest is a cartoon in Box 4 Folder
2 that Lanigan burned the edges of to create a charred effect.

Lanigan often filled the entire frame with imagery and juxtaposed various elements
in a collage like fashion. Many cartoons actually contained several cartoons about
completely different subjects. In his portrayals of political figures, Lanigan often
drew very realistic looking heads on very cartoon-looking bodies while other figures
were portrayed as inanimate objects such as knives (Robert F. Kennedy) and spots on
x-rays (Lyndon B. Johnson).

The
Printed Material series contains 1 folder of clippings of Lanigan's published cartoons.

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materials in this collection.

The following is a list of predominant people, places and subjects appearing in the
editorial cartoons in this collection. The list is not exhaustive. Some subjects
may require you to browse with alternative terms.